Carmen Head Thornton: I've had someone tell me that they were
concerned about getting the Covid vaccine because of the
syphilis study. They didn't even know my grandfather
was a part of the study.
Dr.Kimberly N.Carr: Tuskegee is a very sacred place.
There is no way you cannot feel history.
Mayor Omar Neal: Think about the Tuskegee Airmen
and all of the greatness that they did. And then to find out
that in this same space,
such an atrocious study was being heaped upon our men.
Dr.David A.Hodge: The study began in 1932.
Dr. Reed Tuckson: Segregation and Jim Crow
were the structures of how our society functioned.
Dr. David A. Hodge: What happened
with the men and their families.
It was the un-treating of syphilis.
Dr.Kimberly N.Carr: The original title of the study is Tuskegee
Study of Untreated Syphilis in the negro male.
Dr.David A.Hodge: They were not treated for the disease that killed them.
That made them blind.
Dr.Kimberly N.Carr: My Great-great-grandfather
John Goode. He was of the clergy. He was a farmer.
He was a syphilitic in the study and our family really didn't talk about it.
Elise Marie Tolbert: Both of my great grandfathers had been a
part of that study. They were sharecroppers. And then
later they were able to get land of their own.
Leo Ware: On my right here is Alex
Ware. We call him Big Daddy.
On my left here is Papa Frank Cooper.
And he went blind at a young age.
Lillie Tyson Head: I am the daughter of one
of the men in this study, Freddie Lee Tyson.
I'm also the daughter of Johnnie Mae Neal Tyson.
I have to include my wonderful mother because the two of
them was on the journey together.
Mayor Omar Neal: My uncle used to always run after us.
We'll get your ear. I'm gon' get... and we'd just run and run and run.
And then we'd run right back to him.
Carmen Head Thornton: My grandfather and I were phenomenally close.
He worked as a firefighter where the Tuskegee Airmen trained.
Actually I caught my first fish with my grandfather.
Lillie Tyson Head: My father had congenital syphilis from his mother.
Elise Marie Tolbert: There were a number of opportunities
for the men to receive treatment and they were very intentionally barred.
Lillie Tyson Head: And everyone involved in that study wanted
it to go untreated until their death, their body would then
be sent to be autopsied to see the effect.
Elise Marie Tolbert: Around 1947 penicillin became widely accepted and widely used.
The doctors of the study prevented the men in the study from getting penicillin.
Amy Pack: The first thing those doctors should have done for
these gentlemen was to make sure that each and every one was treated.
Lillie Tyson Head: It was the fall of '72. My brother
Wallace read an article about the study. A couple of days
later, my father received a phone call indicating that he was in the study.
Carmen Head Thornton: When he found out what the study was
really all about and that he had been used and treated as a Guinea pig,
there was just a lot of shame. I'm so sorry.
Amy Pack: In comparing, um, what's happening today with COVID with what happened
back in '32, I see more of a contrast than a similarity.
Lillie Tyson Head: A lot of misinformation is out there
that is causing people to think twice or to hesitate. And one of
them is the fact they think the men were injected with syphilis and they were not.
Amy Pack: They were not injectedd with the spirochete that causes syphilis.
Mayor Omar Neal: They were not being treated. That is very
different from what's happening with COVID-19. The vaccine is
being made available to anyone who wants it.
Dr. Reed Tuckson: Too many people are using the study as a
way of causing their own selves to deny access to vaccines that would save their lives.
Dr. David A. Hodge: And when we talk about COVID-19, for example, we're not talking
about the non treating of Blacks. We're talking about the treating of all people.
Elise Marie Tolbert: The ways in which COVID-19 ravaged Black
communities showed that we have underlying vulnerabilities
when something like a pandemic hits.
Dr. Reed Tuckson: That to me, really connects, uh, what's
happening now with a very important historical legacy.
As a result of what happened to these men, it changed the
course of American clinical research. It created the institutional
review boards, which is a very important intervention that says
that there must be people who can examine every study that is
done on human beings in this country.
Carmen Head Thornton: Where ever there's there's
research that's happening... has to be informed consent
documents that are signed, not just when participating in
clinical trials, but also if you're going to get any type
of a medical procedure, those things came because of that study.
Mayor Omar Neal: It boils down to truly understanding the
concept of community, which is two words, common unity.
Elise Marie Tolbert: The path from tragedy to triumph travels
along the path of learning.
Carmen Head Thornton: I have taken both of my vaccines and
you're talking about something that happened to my family.
Mayor Omar Neal: We can't do this by ourselves. In order for
us to be healthy together, we need to all be vaccinated.